The CD release in the flamenco festival

The official release in Spain of Antonio de la Malena´s double CD took place on Feb. 23, 2013, as an official part of the annual Flamenco Festival of Jerez de la Frontera.  The festival presented it in the city´s second to largest theater, Sala la Compañía.

Antonio de la Malena decided to make the event a form of thanking all those who participated in creating his flamenco album (most especially, in the bulerias fin de fiesta in which over eight people, including of course de la Malena, took turns singing).  In addition, he wanted to recognize his brother-in-law, singer Mateo Solea, who helped de la Malena´s career at a critical juncture when de la Malena was a child.

So he gave all these people a public role in his presentation, inviting them to sing a little, or give rhythm (palmas, or nudos, or jaleo).

And he wanted to include the dancer María del Mar Moreno, in recognition of all the years he has worked with her, so she danced near the end of the presentation.

Palomino Productions and yours truly were the official producers of this event, so of course I was there.  In the excitement, I forgot to bring my camera.  SORRY!!!

But not to worry.  The local press and TV caught it all, and here is one of the reviews with a video at the bottom taken from the presentation.  If you don´t read Spanish, just skip to the bottom and watch the trailer.

The old man you see sitting next to de la Malena at the beginning, and dancing a little at the end, is his father, who can hardly walk (and so his dance isn´t really a dance).  It was a very emotional moment for him, especially since one thing de la Malena sang about was his mother, who died not too long ago...and his father still misses her tremendously.

So click on the link below, and enjoy.

LINK

If you are interested in learning more about the double CD, or in purchasing it, if you live in Europe go HERE, and if you live in America, go HERE.

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Antonio de la Malena's upcoming CD

You might well be interested in learning that our star, Antonio de la Malena, is about to come out with a CD of flamenco cante (singing).  It's title will be Para ti mi cante, que es mi libertad (My song is for you, my song is my freedom.)  Palomino Productions is producing it jointly with a Spanish company, Jerez Puro, a flamenco performance company that tours all over the world and that also has dance academies all over the world.

Antonio de la Malena, a singer known the world over.  He has toured throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.  He has sung in Egypt.  He has been to almost every place where flamenco is loved.  This will be his first, purely flamenco CD.  He has two other CDs to his name, but they are not flamenco cante.

Antonio de la Malena.  (photo:  Martin Guerrero and Casa Patas)

We recorded this back in October, before I left for California, and planned to have it out in February.

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men.

Turns out Antonio sang a bit too much.  First of all, he recorded another 5 cantes while I was in California.  Next, when he starts singing, he sings, and sings, and sings...and some of the cantes are over 10 minutes long.

Since it's important (says everyone who "knows") that a CD have 10 tracks on it, well, multiply 10 by 10 and you get a lot more minutes than any standard CD is going to hold.

el Bob (palmero), Antonio de la Malena, Manuel Parilla (guitarist), etc.

So we trimmed and trimmed, and cut and cut, and even with only 9 tracks it was STILL too long.  Plus some of what we cut was very dear to Antonio's heart, leaving him feeling like the prospective CD would not be what he wanted.

Solution?  Well, at the present time, we've just about decided to put two CDs into one package.  This has led Antonio to decide that he needs to record some more.  I have told him he MUST NOT go over the now 2-CD limit this time.

Bottom line, since he leaves town tomorrow for France and then Italy, is that we THINK we'll get this finished by the end of spring.  One way or another, I promise it's going to be good.  So hold onto your hats.

Bulerias fin de fiesta.  Right, standing=Antonio de la Malena

The final number on the set of two CDs will be the traditional "fin de fiesta" (ending party) bulerias.  For this, Antonio invited not only his older brother, the cantaor Manuel de Malena, and another six or seven people to join in.  They each take turns singing, with Antonio singing first and also ending the session.  There is no guitar accompaniment.  It's performed as if they were, indeed, all at a party together and simply enjoying themselves.

And again, you'll find it at www.AntonioMalenaCD-ENG.com, or if you're in Europe, at www.AntonioMalenaCD.com.

OUR NEXT POST will be about scoping out "el Puerto" (Puerto de Santa Maria).